EGX 2018: Spyro Reignited Trilogy Hands-On Impressions

At EGX this weekend, I had the opportunity to play one of my most anticipated games of the year – Spyro Reignited Trilogy. While it happened to be the only blockbuster game I was able to play at the event due to the overbearing queue times, I came away from my short playtime with the game feeling more positive about this updated remaster of the original Spyro the Dragon trilogy than I had been before. The playable levels in the EGX demo were the same ones that have already been covered: Stone Hill, Idol Springs, and Sunny Villa.

The Spyro Reignited Trilogy play area at EGX 2018.

The first thing of note when sitting down to play and putting on the headphones was the new soundtrack for the game, which I found to be a pleasant evolution of the original Spyro tracks, composed by Stewart Copeland. With beautiful graphics and fluid animations for both Spyro and the enemies of the three levels, the Reignited Trilogy certainly makes these nostalgic games feel more alive. Stone Hill, in particular, does a great job at demonstrating the variety of unique designs given to each of the Trapped Dragons, which, alone with the voice acting, ooze personality and charm.

The environmental details seen here are phenomenal, with the skyboxes having a painterly style that brings the fantasy elements of the world to the forefront, along with smaller things like the reflections of water or the footprints Spyro leaves in the sand. Although the controls took some getting used to after years away from the series, it wasn’t long before the muscle memory kicked in and allowed me to explore these levels that now appear to be fresh and dynamic, despite their history.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy launches November 13th 2018.

Overall, I came away from EGX 2018 feeling impressed by what I had seen and played of the Reignited Trilogy, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of this game become uncovered until launch. As a Spyro fan, I will definitely be adding this nostalgia trip of a game to my collection.